Mass Effect 40k
by MrWeasels
Summary: This story transpires during the events of Mass Effect 3. A mysterious signal appears in the Terminus System and Commander Shepard is sent to investigate. What will he find, and will it be sympathetic to his cause of beating the Reapers? Chapter 3 has been rewritten
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note- This is just a concept I had in mind. Let me know what you think, and post any ideas or suggestions to the comments section. Thank you for reading it, and i will add more to it as i work on it! I know everyone plays Shepard differently, but i based this Shepard after mine. He was a paragon, and went after Tali in ME 2 and ME 3.

"Dammit girl, hold it together!" commander Adantis shouted from his command throne.

He could feel the ship's pain through the many connecting wires threading into the base of his skull. He could feel the ship's hull twist and contort. He felt the screaming of the warp drives. The massive imperial barge lurched to one side, the waves of the warp pounded endlessly against its iron skin. Adantis wrapped his fingers around his shaven head, forcing himself to concentrate. His crew watched from their consoles; panic grew on all of their faces.

Alarms blared suddenly. An ensign manning the maintenance console yelled out in alarm, "The astropaths are dead!"

The sound of murmuring and terror spread throughout the command bridge. Outside the ship the purple tides of the warp changed hue; the swirling energies distorted into a dark blue and yellow. All of the systems on board went wild. Nothing was reading accurately. Adantis could feel his temples pounding. He forced himself into a state of meditation in order to preserve his sanity, but with the increasing activity outside the ship, it was becoming much harder to focus.

A loud scream resounded throughout the craft. Many of the bridge crew dropped down to the metal grating of the floor clamping their hands over their ears. Several crewmen wept blood from their eyes, and two ship guard's heads exploded into a cloud of gory mush.

Adantis felt the pounding increase in strength; it took all of his concentration to not shout out in pain. He had never experienced anything like this before in his 256 years of life; 100 of those years were spent commanding his current ship, the Deathwatch space marine battle barge _"Black Dragon"_. He felt as if his career was going to end with his head exploding all over the bridge … not a fitting death, he thought.

All of a sudden, the shaking stopped. The ship lurched forward violently throwing several servitors over onto the floor. Adantis didn't feel the pounding of the warp waves anymore.

After spending several minutes adjusting his robes and rubbing his temples, he pointed to one of his surviving staff, "You... check the scanners! Find out where we are!"

The woman he was pointing at scrambled to her feet and ran over to one of the many radar screens cluttering the ship's bridge. She scratched her head trying to make sense of the data. Everything was wrong. They weren't even close to their destination. She typed in several commands trying to discern the ship's whereabouts. According to the ships records, they were nowhere near imperial space… in fact, she couldn't find any imperial signatures whatsoever.

She reported her findings to the commander. Adantis considered his next course of action. "Send out a distress beacon… if anyone finds it, they'll come looking for us."

Adantis's adjutant, a young man named Oscar, expressed his concern, "But sir, what if our beacon is found by someone else that isn't imperial?"

Adantis wiped the sweat off of his brow and leaned his head slightly to make eye contact with his assistant, "Our warp drive is damaged, and our engines are as good as useless… I can feel it. We might as well display our whereabouts, and pray to the God Emperor it's someone friendly that answers."

The adjutant nodded, but the look of anxiety was still solid on his face. He walked over to the communications console and typed in several commands, "Were transmitting now sir."

Silence filled the ship as soon as the distress call went out.

_Meanwile, aboard SSV Normandy SR-2..._

Specialist Traynor played her hands over her console. She had been awake for upwards of twenty six hours, but she had enough coffee to keep a small army going for weeks on end. She sorted through the commander's messages, and sifted through the numerous distress signals. She wanted to help them all, and she was sure the Commander did as well, but she knew there wouldn't be enough time to save everyone. She forwarded the high profile targets and major population centers to EDI for processing as she played with the galaxy map, scanning though the Terminus systems.

A blip that wasn't there before lit up like a Christmas tree. She attempted to determine where it was exactly, and from whom. A generic distress call panned across her console's screen. Traynor noted that the words were in Latin; EDI quickly translated it into English. The use of a dead language was her first clue that something wasn't right. Her second clue was that the signal didn't match any known signatures… or coding. It wasn't Alliance, Cerberus, or civilian. She tried to pull up anything she could about the signal, but everything was met with a dead end. She couldn't find anything out about it.

"This should be good." She mumbled quietly to herself. She upgraded the signal to a priority distress call, and sent it to Shepard's console.

_Normandy's engineering deck..._

Shepard loved Tali deeply, and he was fairly certain that she reciprocated. Shepard was exhausted and spent much of his time catching up with her.

It had been nearly six months since he last saw her and with all of the Quarian Admirals aboard his ship, he could never get her alone. He wanted to hear all of the news. He had just created peace between the Quarians and the Geth, and he desperately needed some time to rest, but that could wait. Tali pointed out to him that his speech was starting to slur slightly, and Shepard confessed that he hadn't slept in nearly four days.

She reached out for his hand and clenched it in hers, "Go to bed Shepard, I can't have you falling asleep during the next fight." Tali said in a rather playful tone.

Shepard rubbed his eyes and laughed gently to himself. He was amazed at how much Tali had come out of her shell since confessing her love for him before the assault of the Collector base, it was like all of the shyness and nervousness had left her system in its entirety. Shepard stared into her faceplate locking with Tali's glowing eyes, and simply nodded. The commander meandered wearily over to the elevator and waved to Tali.

Tali waved back over her shoulder, and continued her work on the Normandy's engines… she noted that they desperately needed cleaning.

Shepard walked out of the elevator onto the CIC deck. He watched Traynor briefly as she worked feverishly on her console. He didn't want to sleep, he didn't want to dream, but he knew he had to. He decided as the elevator was ascending that he would check his console first to make sure there weren't any fires to put out.

A green light flashed repeatedly over the orange screen of his console. He took a step out of the elevator and his foot clanked noisily on the metal grating of the ship's floor. Traynor's ears perked up at the sound.

"You have a new message commander… and it looks rather exciting." She continued her fast paced typing on her console trying to fulfill her duties and daily tasks.

Shepard sighed… he didn't need excitement right now. He took three steps towards his console and activated the screen.

_A priority distress call from a ship with unknown identification? Was it Reaper?_ Shepard thought to himself. _No, Traynor would've picked up on that… what could it be?_

Shepard tapped the desk of his console and sighed deeply… it was exciting.

"Joker!" the commander spoke sternly into his computer's microphone. A few seconds of silence followed.

"Yeah, what is it commander?" Joker's voice came out through the console's speakers.

"I'm uploading new coordinates… take us there immediately." Shepard tapped off his microphone.

Joker responded, "Alright Shepard, moving out now."

Shepard finished the elevator journey up to his quarters, and reluctantly fell asleep. He dreamt about the boy again, and once more, he woke up in a cold sweat wide awake.

He looked at his alarm clock next to the picture Tali had given him. He had been asleep for just under four hours. He groaned as he turned himself off the side of the bed. He sat silently for several minutes, trying to purge the images of his dream from his mind. Earth filled his thoughts and he felt a surge of energy flow through him when he remembered that Anderson and the resistance were counting on him to win this war.

Shepard stood and walked over to his armor locker. They had to be close to the beacon now.

After putting the finishing touches on his armor, Shepard took the elevator down to the hanger bay where Cortez was waiting patiently. Shepard didn't know what he was walking into, and he wanted his most trusted crewmates at his side. He brought up his omni-tool and flipped through the crew dossiers. He selected Tali and Garrus, and told them to grab their gear quickly.

Shepard leaned against the side of the shuttle playing around with his assault rifle to make sure it was still in working order. He racked the slide, and slapped the thermal clip to make sure it was in properly.

The elevator doors opened, and Tali and Garrus walked out with their weapons in their hands. Garrus always kept his rifle close by, and Tali always had a shotgun within arm's reach. Shepard liked a girl who could handle herself in a firefight.

Garrus spoke up first, "What's this about Shepard?" he was donning his visored helmet so his words became mildly metallic halfway through the question.

"A distress call from a ship with unknown origins, and no ID tags matching anything in our database." Shepard shrugged his shoulder in the direction of the shuttle's door.

The one human, two alien team walked up the ramp and fastened themselves in for the ride. The doors closed, and the thrusters activated. They all felt a momentary feeling of weightlessness as the ship gently floated up. The hangar opened out into the void of space, and Cortez gunned the shuttle into the blackness before him.

Shepard exchanged small talk with his teammates, making friendly wagers, and sharing war stories. They all heard them before, but they liked to share them, and they liked to hear them. The team sat and talked for a good forty minutes discussing what the signal might be before Steve chimed in over the intercom.

"We're approaching the beacon commander… my god, the thing is huge! Shepard, you have to see this!" Steve cut off the mic, and Shepard unbuckled his restraint.

He fumbled up towards the cockpit and stood in utter silence as he took in the scene before him, a ship the size of Omega. The thing was massive and looked like a floating cathedral. Dread began to seep into Shepard, but he pushed it out… he knew what he had to do.

"Open a hailing frequency… ask who they are, what their purpose is." Steve nodded and began to type the message.

_Black Dragon's bridge..._

Adantis ordered the bridge staff to remove the bodies of the dead and wounded, they would just get in the way. After that he ordered all of his staff to find out just where the hell they were. They all sorted through massive piles of data, but every single trail ended with them none the wiser. Everything met with a dead end.

Adantis commanded the radar operators to cross check their location with analog maps seeing as digital equipment had failed them. Four crewmen came back twenty minutes later carrying dozens of dusty pieces of parchment between them. The sheets were laid out the entire crew gathered around them. Everyone was lost, and they were all desperate to find out where they had stranded themselves.

Something buzzed through one of the feed wires leading to Adantis's skull; someone was responding to the beacon. That was fast… it was only sent out three hours ago. He reached down to the keypad on his armrest and transmitted the message onto the main screen.

The video feed was blurry, but the systems adjusted quickly. "This is Lieutenant Steve Cortez of the SSV Normandy, Alliance Navy. We are responding to your distress call, and want to know what your business is in this sector!"

Adantis's brow furrowed in confusion, "Alliance… just what the hell is that?" the words came through clenched teeth.

The message repeated three times. One of the many crewmen on the bridge walked up to Adantis's command throne. "What do we do sir?"

Adantis considered his options. "Respond to their hails, and tell them we need aid. We will have to watch them very closely… give me a status report on the surviving crew!" Adantis ordered no one in particular.

The woman he had pointed at earlier answered before anyone else, "Numerous casualties sir. We lost all but two of our tech priests, and according to our rosters, only three tech marines survived. As for the Astartes, I'm receiving reports that they suffered minimal losses and are currently standing at ninety-eight percent strength. Before our emergency warp transit, we lost several bulkheads which threw approximately seventy percent of the ship's work force out into the void of space… we can only pray their deaths were quick."

Adantis nodded, the ship did feel oddly empty. The ship had engaged with a Tau patrol fleet on a routine run. The _Black Dragon_ had destroyed three enemy vessels before any shots managed to hit it. An enemy torpedo slammed into the ship's engines, making them utterly useless. He did not like to run, but Adantis did not want to die a pointless death. He authorized an emergency warp jump in hopes of joining up with an imperial fleet and repairing the damage done to the ship.

"Tell them to land in hanger 3-B, and I want a welcoming party arranged. I want as many Astartes and ship guards as we can spare to greet them… show them that we are not to be played with!"

Adantis's adjutant Oscar nodded and keyed the response to come aboard. "What should we tell them of our purpose sir?"

The commander rubbed his sharp chin between his forefinger and thumb. "Tell them nothing."

* * *

"We've got permission to land, but no word about why they're here… how do you want to handle this commander?" Steve leaned over his shoulder as he asked the question.

Shepard placed his hands on the back of Cortez's chair and tucked his chin into his chest as he thought out a solution.

"Take the shuttle in slow and steady… and be on your guard. If they are unreceptive, I want you to light up the place!" Shepard released his grip on Steve's chair and went back into the cabin to brief Tali and Garrus.

Cortez faced his command console and smiled to himself; it had been too long since he shot something. He didn't count the Geth tower on Rannoch… that didn't shoot back.

The shuttle skimmed the hull of the colossal ship of unknown origins. Cortez switched on the shuttle's flood lights and took in the scene in front of him. He was in awe at the size of the vessel. It must have taken decades to build something like this. He noted the numerous blast holes and debris fields surrounding the craft. Something devastating blasted through the vessel, Steve could be sure of that at least.

The Kodiak floated towards the hangar as soon as Cortez had located it based on the coordinates sent to him. The shuttle pushed forward at decreasing speed as Steve entered the gap in the ship's plating.

"You could fit cruisers in this thing Shepard!" Cortez spoke a little louder than he meant to.

Shepard could barely believe it himself. Garrus and Tali had joined him up in the cockpit. The strange craft was bathed in darkness, the only light came from the Kodiak's search lights.

Steve panned the shuttle's guns around the empty space, scanning every nook and cranny. Crates and boxes were strewn throughout the hanger; their contents were spilled all over the floor. Steve counted three rather boxy shaped craft were in various stages of disrepair… or maybe they were meant to look like that; he didn't know.

"Set the shuttle down Steve… remember what I told you; keep an eye out for anything." Shepard patted Cortez on the shoulder and turned to face his team.

Steve cut the shuttle's thrusters and let it float to the hangar floor. Shepard turned the light on his Vindicator assault rifle to full power, and signaled Garrus and Tali to do the same with their respective weapons. The shuttle doors lifted like gull wings and the commander took his first steps out onto the unknown ship. He heard the heavy footfalls of Garrus, and the nearly silent footsteps of Tali follow.

* * *

Space Marine Sergeant Tantius watched the small vessel land from an observation window high up in the rafters of the hangar. He signaled his team to move into position as soon as its occupants took their first steps into the battle barge. He drew his heavy bolter and took sight.

One of them is definitely a human male… the other looked human enough, but the number of digits on her hands and feet were wrong… perhaps she was a mutant. The last one was an alien, no doubt about it. Tantius sighted in on the alien and played his helmet's crosshairs over the black visor. He eyed the volume control of his helmet's speakers and turned them to the fullest. He moved his hands over to the hanger control panel and pulled one of the many oversized levers down. The hangar doors slammed shut as the blast shields locked into position. This caused the unknown ground party to turn around in alarm.

Tantius took in a deep breath, "Stop right there, or we will open fire!"

* * *

Shepard flinched at the sudden loudness and brightness of everything. It felt as if every single light in the universe switched on and focused on his position. The light dampeners in his helmet worked at a maddening pace in order to compensate for the sudden change in illumination.

Garrus cursed as he brought his hand up to his face. Tali simply averted her gaze and stared at the floor.

Shepard played his gun across the hanger; there was someone, or something moving. He couldn't track it. It looked like there was more than one. He saw two, then three. There was definitely more than four he noted.

Garrus had recovered and moved to Shepard's shoulder, panning his Mantis sniper rifle around the luminous hanger. Tali brought her Geth plasma shotgun up to her shoulder and stood by the commander's side, doing the same thing as Garrus.

The floor began to vibrate violently, and they could all hear the whine of something mechanical, and the sudden clap of steel on steel. A massive figure filled his vision. The mechanical being stood at eight feet tall with a face of indifference engraved onto what must have been its head. The figure was clad in sterling silver armor with colossal shoulder plating. The left shoulder was plated with words of unknown meaning to Shepard, and the right shoulder was the color of sun bleached bone. It was rimmed with black, and a single symbol was painted into the center, the silhouette of a raven with a blood red tear drop in the center of its body.

The mechanical man glared menacingly at Shepard. The sound that came out of the things speakers nearly caused Shepard to drop his gun and grab his ears.

"I am Sergeant Maxwell Tantius, a member of the Emperor's holy Adeptus Astartes… be you friend or foe?"

Shepard didn't know what to do, or what to say. Several figures came out of their hiding places. Soon enough, twelve men of equal stature to Tantius stood shoulder to shoulder. Thirteen massive weapons were pointed at him as the mechanical men took aim.

"Are you friend or foe?" Shepard was in shock, what had he led his team into. He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts.

"One last time or we will open fire… Are you a friend, or are you a foe?" The being's voice was growing louder.

Shepard lowered his gun and ordered Garrus and Tali to do the same; they both seemed rather reluctant to do so. Shepard took a step forward.

"We're friends. We heard your distress signal and came as fast as we could." Shepard tried to keep his focus, and not panic.

The gigantic figure before him stared down at the rather small form of the commander. The mechanical man looked at the beings standing next to him and raised his hand. They all lowered their weapons, and Shepard took a deep breath of relief. Shepard glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the shuttle's weapons were focused on the silver clad giant in front of him.

The lights dimmed, and the rest of the giants walked out into the open. All in all Shepard counted about fifty. Twelve of which had rocket launchers trained on the Kodiak.

"Remove your helm!" the mechanical voice grated against Shepard's ear drums. He brought his free hand up to his N7 helmet and released the clamps; his HUD said there was oxygen aboard. He slowly raised his helmet, and the feeling of cold recycled air rushed his face.

"You too alien!" The mechanical man nodded his massive head which seemed rather small for his body at Garrus and Tali.

Garrus reluctantly removed his helmet after receiving the okay from Shepard, and held it in his free hand. Tali stood still.

"Remove your helm!" The man's voice was growing louder; Shepard remarked that he sounded rather angry.

"She can't." Shepard stood in front of Tali to block her from the being's gaze.

"I do not trust anything that hides behind a mask!" The figures voice grew quieter, but Shepard could still feel the menace in its speech.

"How can you tell us to take off our helmets if you won't take off yours?" Shepard quipped back. The man reached up to his sneering helmet and removed it.

The figure that stood before Shepard was definitely human. The man standing in front of him had short cropped brown hair with a slight peak in the front. His eyes were a bright shining green, and his skin looked pale from being inside the suit for too long. He had a chiseled jaw line, and thin lips; several scars traced along his forehead and left cheek. One of his ears looked mechanical, and in desperate need of repair. He nodded to the rest of the mysterious figures, and the ones closest to him removed theirs as well.

"Why is she incapable of removing her mask?" the man asked. His voice sounded almost soothing without the grating speakers of the helmet.

"She's a Quarian. They don't really have the strongest of immune systems which leaves them vulnerable without the suit... mask included." Shepard defended Tali, but he somehow felt as if he had insulted her. She nodded in agreement, eager to finish the conversation and go back to the Normandy.

"Why haven't you destroyed her kind yet… they look weak and inferior?" The man remarked as he scanned Tali's figure.

It was Shepard's turn to feel insulted, "They're our allies and she's my friend! Same as him!" Shepard gestured to Garrus who looked like he was struggling to understand what was happening. His mandibles twitched as his eyes darted back and forth between the massive figures surrounding him.

"Just who and what the hell are you? What's the Adeptus Astartes… and who's the Emperor?" The man took a step back, a look of shock flashed briefly across his face.

"You do not know of the Emperor of Mankind… who are you?"

"I'm Commander John Shepard of the SSV Normandy, and this is a small part of my team, Tali'zorah Vas Normandy, and Garrus Vakarian." Shepard nodded at his friends in turn.

"What exactly are you guys? You're not Alliance, that's for damn sure. You're not Cerberus, and you seemed way too well-defended for a civilian vessel." Shepard cocked his head slightly as he asked the question.

"Answers to such questions will be given in time… first we must take you to speak to our ship's commander." The man nodded once more and four figures surrounded Shepard and his team.

Three giants strode towards the Kodiak and knocked on the closed door, denting it slightly with their rapping. Shepard raised his hand and waved for Steve to exit the craft. The gull wings opened and Steve Cortez cautiously walked past the mechanical giants to join Shepard. "

Follow me Commander Shepard." Tantius began to walk, and the men behind him shoved Shepard along.

"I don't have any say in this do I?" Shepard said without thinking. Tantius walked on in silence ignoring the quip, leading the party through the dark halls of the ship.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The sound of Shepard's "escort" pierced the atmosphere. Massive boots pounded against the steel floor. Shepard took in his surroundings; the inside of the vessel felt oppressive and depressing; it stank of cordite, and burnt engine oil. The only light source available was the flashing red emergency floor lighting, and the green glow of the space marine's eye lenses.

"We're running on emergency power. We cannot afford to use more than what's available." Tantius stated as if he was reading Shepard's mind. For all Shepard knew, he probably was.

Several men and women in various articles of clothing milled around the halls of the ship; they stopped and stared as the entourage passed. Shepard could hear murmuring, but he couldn't make out details over the sound of the giant boots clanking on the floor.

"You still haven't answered my question. Who are you?" Shepard asked the Sergeant

Tantius turned his head over his shoulder, "I would not say that you are in a position to ask such things Shepard. If you help us, then I might be inclined to answer some of you inquiries. We are the Deathwatch, Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Emperor's most holy Inquisition… that is all you need to know."

Tantius faced forward and continued to lead the party through the dark hall. A man similar to the soldiers escorting Shepard stood near a pierced bulkhead. A shield of some sort was protecting it from the vacuum of space. He had what looked to be three mechanical arms extending out from his back. A focused jet of fire sprayed out of the nozzle of what was obviously a welder clamped in one of the arms. Instead of hands, the other two limbs sported what looked like a strange form of vice grip. The three extremities worked at an exponential pace in order to seal off the damage.

Shepard didn't realize he was staring until one of the large men walking behind him nudged him in the shoulder with its massive hand. Shepard grunted; he could already feel the bruise beginning to form.

* * *

Oscar the adjutant approached Adantis's side. "Sir, Sergeant Tantius has just met with the unknown team. He says that they're cooperating, and that he'll be up here within moments."

Adantis shook his head in approval. "Good… that will be all Oscar."

Adantis waved his assistant away and looked down at his robe; they had been splattered with the blood and brain matter of a guard's head.

"Damn." Adantis mumbled under his breath as he attempted to wipe the gory debris away; all he managed to do was cause it to smear.

His staff milled around him attempting to fix the damage that had been done to the ship's controls, and instruments. Adantis knew that it was mostly irreparable. This ship was ancient, and there was no way that he could think of for them to get new parts. He sat in silence contemplating his thoughts inside his head.

Five minutes later, the massive double doors slid open and Sergeant Tantius stepped in. He walked up to Adantis and kneeled.

"What is it Tantius? This isn't the time for formalities." Adantis grumbled down at the kneeling space marine.

Tantius stood up and spoke, "We have the unknown search party, and they're just outside the door with the rest of my men."

"Good… anything I should know before we bring them in for a talk?"

"The leader of the group is a one Commander John Shepard of the SSV Normandy… I can only assume that that's his vessel."

_Obviously. _Adantis thought. "Anything else worthy of note?" Adantis asked.

Tantius considered how to respond, "He appears to be working with xenos sir. If you hadn't given me explicit orders to bring them to you, I would have killed them then and there."

Adantis smiled to himself, "If they prove to be a waste of our time, I might just let you."

Shepard, Steve, Tali, and Garrus were shoved through the colossal double doors. Their escorts took up positions in front of the portal as it slid shut, cutting off any hope of escape along with it.

Shepard looked around the room they now occupied. It was filled with men and women bustling around ancient looking computers. A massive observation window covered the majority of the place. Shepard could see the stars outside. Screens were cracked and shattered and sparks shot out of everything. Several men sat in the corner with their hands covering their eyes; blood was seeping through their fingers.

Tantius stood next to a sitting man wearing a blood spattered robe of gold. The man looked like a dwarf compared to the mechanical man. He had a shaven head and had a serious case of five a-clock shadow. Wires snaked into the man's head. He stood and walked down from his shining silver chair; the wires connected to his head trailed behind him dragging on the floor.

He spoke as he moved towards Shepard. "Well, what do we have here? Shepard is it?"

Shepard's brow furrowed as he analyzed the skinny figure that addressed him. The man stopped just a few feet short of the commander. Tantius closed the gap and stood right behind the man in robes.

The man extended his hand. Shepard's own arm remained pinned at his side. He heard the clatter of bolts stutter into position as the giants guarding the door raised their weapons. Shepard hadn't realized that he was reaching for his own gun braced across his back with his other hand.

He looked down at the extended hand and spoke, "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage… both militarily, and socially."

The man brought his small hand back to his side. "So civil… oh where are my manners, I know your name, but you don't know mine. I apologize. I am Davian Adantis, commander of the Deathwatch battle barge _Black Dragon_. I'd say that it was good to see another human such as you and your friend, if you hadn't brought along those two." Adantis gestured to Tali and Garrus.

Both of them looked like they really did not want to be here; Shepard couldn't blame them, he didn't either.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Shepard and Adantis simply stared at one another trying to gain a measure of the other. All Adantis saw was a man who consorted with aliens, and was thus, a heretic. All Shepard saw was a man that should have died years ago. The many surgeries ruined the man's figure. Scars laced throughout all of his exposed skin. Shepard felt repulsed by the being in front of him, and Adantis felt the same about Shepard.

The room was filled with silence; nervous onlookers observed the exchange between commanders, the space marines were standing like statues with expressionless faces, Tali was desperately thinking of how they were going to get out of this one, and Garrus's mandibles were twitching… he was still trying to understand what was happening.

"I fixed it!" A sudden shout of victory cried out from one of Adantis's crew, shattering the silence. Everyone including the space marines shifted focus and concentrated on the man jumping for joy. The man realized he was being watched and regained his composure. He pushed his hand through his hair and coughed gently to clear his throat. "The long range scanners… I uh… I fixed them. The ship is currently running scans as we speak."

"Excellent. Tantius, watch over Shepard, I will be back in a moment." Adantis spoke to the Sergeant as he strode towards the man across the deck. Tantius nodded and fixed Shepard with a stare of indifference; Shepard was quickly beginning to think that that was the only expression Tantius was capable of.

"Can I ask you a question?" Shepard risked talking to the marine.

Tantius shook his head, "No"

Adantis gazed down at the long range auspex console. The screen was cracked and the casing sparked every few seconds, but it was indeed working. Adantis let out a sigh of relief as he felt the first of the pings returning to the ship.

A feeling of warmth rushed in behind Adantis's eyes as his implants processed the data. The screen was showing the exact same thing he was seeing. _The first ping, nothing. The second ping, nothing. The third ping… something?_ Adantis shoved the console's attendant aside. Adantis wrapped his hands around the side of the desk and glared down at the damaged screen.

_What the hell?_ Adantis pushed himself away from the auspex and rushed to his command throne. He keyed the buttons on the touch pad located on the chair's armrest. The auspex monitor took its place on the main display. In the center, a single dot of white stood out from the green of the auspex. From around the edges of the screen, hundreds of dots shaded in blue to signify a vessel of unknown origin were swarming towards the _Black Dragon._

Shepard looked at the biggest screen in the room. It looked ludicrously primitive, but there was no denying what he was seeing.

_Shit_.

"Adantis, did you turn the beacon off when we docked?" Shepard asked at the robed man standing next to his massive shining throne.

Adantis turned his head over his shoulder and shot a questioning look at Oscar. Oscar shook his head.

Adantis looked back at the commander, "Apparently not… should I have?"

Shepard tried to push past Tantius. Tantius's gauntleted hand found Shepard's shoulder and squeezed. Shepard let out a grunt of pain as the sergeant held him in place. The blue dots closed in on Adantis's vessel, getting closer by the second.

Adantis sat down on his throne and shifted his head to face Shepard. "Do you know what those are?" Adantis waved his hand at the screen.

Shepard struggled against Tantius's grip. Garrus, Steve and Tali tried to help him, but similar hands held them in place as the guards stepped forward. Tali let out a small squeal as her shoulder fractured. The marine holding her in place told her to shut her filthy xenos mouth. Still she struggled to help her lover.

"Yes I know what they are and I know that they'll kill us all! We need to get the hell out of here now!" Shepard was shouting as loud as he could.

"Calm down Shepard, I'm sure they won't be a match for a ship like mine… crippled as she may be, most of her weapons still work." Adantis typed into his touchpad as he spoke. Alarms blared and all the bridge crew ran to their stations.

An artificial voice resounded throughout the ship, "All hands to battle stations." The voice was monotone and distorted, but it appeared to have the desired effect. Tantius used his free hand and waved the excess space marine guard away. The double doors opened and they ran out as fast as they could.

The blue dots were practically on top of the Deathwatch ship by now. Shepard looked out of the main observation window and realized it was already too late. The unknown vessels decelerated from light speed. Hundreds of tentacled ships flooded the view screen. The Reapers had found them.

"All forward batteries, lock on the big ones." Adantis ordered his bridge staff. The men and women manning the gunnery stations shouted their acknowledgement. They piped up one by one as they locked onto the Reaper ships closing in on them.

Oscar leaned over his console "We're getting reports that all surviving gunnery crews are standing by to reload!"

"Good… let's show these cephalopod things what were made of. Fire the torpedoes!" the ship vibrated violently as Adantis yelled the order. Streaks of orange blew through the vacuum of space, rocketing towards their intended targets. The crew sat in silence praying that their shots would land home.

Below decks, hundreds of servitors and slaves raced frantically trying to reload the ship's massive forward batteries. Several deathwatch marines thought they were taking too long, and they joined the working crew to expedite the process of loading the guns.

The bright orange ordinance of the _Black Dragon _blazed closer to their targets. "Ten seconds till impact!" Oscar shouted unnecessarily, as the entire bridge crew was completely silent.

The shots streaked closer and closer when to Adantis's horror; red beams of light seemed to shoot out the mysterious ships' eyes and tentacles, causing the Black Dragon's shots to explode prematurely… leaving the enemy vessels unscathed.

The tentacled ships increased in speed as they closed in on the battle barge. Thousands of red lights spawned from the enemy craft like a fish spawning egg.

"Adantis, you can't win this! Run while you can!" Shepard struggled again against the vice like grip of Tantius.

Steve ran forward and tried to pull Tantius's hand off of Shepard. Tantius brought his free hand around and slapped Steve in the chest which threw him into the closed double doors, breaking four of his ribs. Steve gasped for air as he tried to stand up.

Adantis ordered his staff to fire the next salvo of missiles. The shots streaked across the void of space, only to explode prematurely once more. Realizing that the torpedoes weren't going to work as well as he'd hoped, Adantis ordered the forward lance batteries and las cannons to open up. These met with success as every shot fired claimed a kill. When one reaper ship died however, three more took its place.

"Emperor's blood!" Adantis said under his breath. "Enough of the ordered fire… fire at will, overwhelm them with ordinance!" Adantis shot out of his chair and pointed to the enemy ships. "Fire all guns and scramble the fighters!" Adantis was trying to stay calm, but he was failing spectacularly.

Shepard looked outside the view window; hundreds of massive rounds thudded out of the ship. A few of the torpedoes managed to slam into four of the Reapers, which blew them apart instantly in a supernova of blue luminescence and fire. Their red lasers fired briefly before the explosion destroyed the weapons entirely. Lance weapons superheated the hulls of any Reapers they hit and cut through them like wet tissue paper. Las-cannons blew massive scorch marks into the ships and caused several to explode under repeated salvos.

It was pointless in Shepard's eyes however; the Reapers were closing in faster than Adantis could kill them. The reaper ships threw themselves at the _Black Dragon_, advancing faster than its guns could fire. More and more slowed down from faster than light speed and added to the engulfing wave of tentacled horrors.

Hundreds of silver Lightning fighter craft and Thunderhawks launched from the _Black Dragon's _hanger bays. Shepard could hear their frantic voices of the pilots shouting over the communications console Oscar was manning. Hundreds of men and women were fighting for their lives. Shepard could hear the metallic voices of the space marine pilots controlling the Thunderhawks shouting to their gunners. The Reaper fighters and the _Black Dragon's _fighters engaged in a lethal dance of laser, and solid slug fire. Shepard saw the ships intertwine from the massive window overlooking the bridge. Intermittent explosions of a destroyed fighter both human and Reaper lit the darkness outside.

Tantius's grip had slackened slightly since Shepard stopped resisting. Shepard took advantage of the moment and shot out of the space marine's hold, sprinting towards Adantis. Tantius reached out for Shepard but missed. Shepard grabbed Adantis by his collar and pinned his shoulders to the wall.

"Listen, I don't know what you're doing here, but if you stay and fight you die. I have unfinished business Adantis! Billions of people are relying on me to save them and all you're doing is getting me and my friends killed!" Shepard spoke through gritted teeth. Adantis' eyes went wide.

The ship's guns still blasted away in all directions frantically trying to keep the Reapers off of them. Eight destroyer class Reapers exploded as they were hit with repeated salvos of lance and cannon fire. "It's hopeless Adantis, run while you can. Order your man to retreat to safety while they still can. Join me in the fight against those things out there." Shepard released Adantis from his grip and took a step back.

Adantis stood momentarily shocked. Anger flared in his eyes and he lunged at Shepard. Shepard caught the man's blow, but his weight threw both of them over. The two men rolled on the floor trading hits. Adantis landed a punch on Shepard's nose, causing it to break. He then grabbed one of the many wires connected to his skull and wrapped it around Shepard's throat. Shepard brought his own hands up and grabbed the wire before Adantis could tighten it. Shepard threw Adantis over his shoulder and elbow dropped the man's chest. Adantis wheezed as the air was knocked out of his lungs. Shepard stood up and breathed heavily from the excertion.

Unbeknownst to him however, he had stepped in between two of the bigger wires that were socketed behind Adantis's ears. Adantis saw this and grabbed them. He pulled them in opposite directions which caught Shepard by surprise. Shepard fell to the floor face first; his forehead hit the metal grating. Shepard's friends called out to him, but he didn't hear them, he had slipped into unconsciousness from the sudden impact against the floor. Adantis stood and kicked Shepard in the chest.

"How dare you undermine my command!" Adantis dropped to the floor and rolled Shepard onto his back. He punched him as hard as he could, blow after blow.

"Filthy heretic!" Adantis was screaming at the top of his lungs like a madman. He stopped, and stood back up out of breath.

Tantius walked over and picked up Shepard's bloodied unconscious form.

"Much bloody help you were!" Adantis shouted at the sergeant, spittle spraying from his mouth. "Get them out of my sight!" Adantis ordered the space marine as he straightened his robes and attempted to reassert his command.

Tantius walked over to the rest of his men and ordered them to follow him. His men walked out of the bridge along with Steve, Tali, Garrus, and the unconscious Shepard. The massive double doors slid shut behind the space marines, locking in place.

Adantis looked out of the observation window… and at that moment he realized that Shepard had been right; he would die a pointless death, and he had damned his crew. A massive ship had closed the distance and latched itself onto the _Black Dragon_. The ship shuddered as the enemy construct let out a deep groan. Adantis felt his bones shake down to the marrow. The shields covering the enemy's weapon opened. The concentrated beam of liquid metal caused the shields to sputter and die under the sustained blast. Once they were breached, the beam cut through the armored observation window like tissue paper.

The heat from the weapon vaporized the entire bridge crew and ended the illustrious career of Davian Adantis.

"Hull integrity at 23 percent; shields holding firmly at half strength; recommend immediate evacuation." The emotionless voice of the ship's machine spirit droned the message over and over.

Tantius and his men were trying to work their way to the ships hangers in order to find a vessel suitable for their escape. Tantius didn't want to run, but what choice did he have? Die a pointless death, or live to fight and win another day. As much as he hated to admit it, he preferred the second choice.

The Deathwatch squad had been pulling Shepard and his team along with them. Tantius reasoned that they would be more useful to him alive than dead; they knew what those things were… at least Shepard seemed to. Tantius threw Shepard over his shoulder, and ordered his men to do the same with the other two aliens and the Cortez.

"Ships of unknown origin are displacing troops in cargo bays F-12 through Y-29… unknown contacts have boarded." The voiced repeated this message alongside the shield and hull integrity updates. At the rate the ship's hull was failing, Tantius and his men had to get off quickly. Tantius's Deathwatch kill team drew their weapons and readied themselves for attackers as they attempted to find a way off of the crippled vessel.

They turned the next corner, Tech marine Evans was locked in hand to hand combat with dozens of greyish blue humanoid creatures. He swung his power axe and cut through them like air. He turned suddenly as a loud crash resounded down the hall. Evan's bolter barked loudly as he fired at the unseen creature. A monster of massive proportions jumped on top of the Tech Marine and shoved him the ground. The combined weight of the tech marine and the brute caused the floor to buckle violently.

Tantius ordered his men to open fire on the beast. Eleven bolters barked loudly as the massive bullets were loosed in short bursts. The creature hardly seemed to notice at first, but its armor quickly disintegrated under the combined bolter fire, and it exploded into a cloud of gore and viscera. Brother Evans breathed a sigh of relief as he pushed the dead brute off of him. His armor was slick with the creature's blood, but he hardly seemed to care. Tantius and his team rushed over to his aid.

Evans pushed Tantius away and got back on his feet. "Do I look infirm to you, Brother Tantius?"

Tantius's head cocked to one side as he heard the unusual question. "No, Brother..."

"Then I think we can both agree that I'm capable of standing up on my own!" Evans said as he brushed his power axe against his thigh causing the black paint to burn under the energy of the weapon.

Evans had been with the Deathwatch for close to two hundred years and he was the best tech specialist Tantius had had the honor of serving with. He had trouble with authority, but that's why Tantius liked him, he wasn't afraid to speak his mind… even to a superior.

"What is this?" Evans gestured at the men carrying Shepard's struggling team.

"Long story, I will explain later." Tantius stated.

"Ughh, never mind… tell me once we reach safety. We have to get off the ship now." Evans said as he adjusted his helmet.

One of the three arms on his back had been torn off by the brute and it lay twitching in the massive dent Evans's power armored body and the brute had created. Evans picked it up after sliding his power axe into its sheath. He turned it in his silver gauntlet and sighed loudly. He tossed the broken extremity at the space marine carrying Garrus.

The tactical marine caught it one handed and glanced at the tech marine. "Don't lose that, Brother!" Evans said as he pointed at the power armored soldier.

Shepard started to come around. He felt sick to his stomach and his head was throbbing. The blood clogging his nose made it difficult to breath, but the familiar smell of misery seeping through reminded him that he was still on the ship. Shepard tried to speak, but his head hurt way too much to even think. He realized that he was being carried on someone's massive shoulder as he looked around. He let loose a breath of relief as he saw that Tali, Garrus, and Steve were still alive; what he didn't like though was the fact that they were all being carried in a similar fashion as him.

The boots of the space marines clapped loudly against the steel floor as the marines pushed through Reaper forces to reach an unknown destination. Gunfire and screaming filled Shepard's ears. His head began to throb more. Tali had noticed that Shepard was awake and she was trying to speak to him, the little purple light in front of her mouth told Shepard that much; but he couldn't hear her over the whining servos of the armor of the men carrying them, and the sporadic barks of gun fire.

The resistance got heavier as they neared the hangars. Tantius and his men had caught up with several squads of marines, and a few groups of imperial storm troopers. A rather sizable army fought their way through the enemy forces, slowly working their way to their escape. The air was filled with the sharp cracks of hot shot las guns and the loud booming of bolter fire as enemy forces were cut to ribbons.

The ragtag group came across a full squad of devastator marines mowing down cannibals by the dozens with heavy bolters. Enormous piles of disfigured enemy bodies were lying at their feet. Tantius and his group came to their aid and helped them push the enemy back. They were not a difficult foe, but their numbers seemed endless. Ammunition was almost spent, and several men had already abandoned their guns in favor of their melee weapons.

A squad of assault marines had made their way to Tantius by sheer dumb luck, but they were overjoyed to see that others had survived. All in all, Tantius had gathered fifty four space marines, and eighty imperial storm troopers. The enemy ground forces stood no chance against such a determined and focused foe.

In just under an hour, the group had fought their way to the closest docking bay, Hanger 3-B. The cavernous room was flooded with the enemy, but the huge open space gave the assault marines plenty of space to drop in on their foe. The Imperial storm troopers formed a firing line in front of the marines and thumped out their hot shot rounds one after another. Several of the guardsmen had been able to procure flamers and plasma guns… they made damn good use of them.

The enemy fired back at the new threat. Soldiers were cut down under the enemy onslaught. In a last moment of defiance, a storm trooper who had received a mortal wound to his abdomen overloaded his plasma weapon and threw it into the crowd of enemy forces. The storm trooper had taken dozens of enemy foot soldiers with him as he went to join the Emperor's side. Tantius made a vow to himself to find out just who that man was.

Bug like creatures with swollen orange bodies began to shell the imperial line. A space marine to Tantius's left fell under the barrage; his chest plate had been shot clean through. He gurgled through the vox as blood filled his throat.

The devastators had found a good over watch position and opened fire with their massive heavy bolters. The fight seemed to stand still as the enemy flooded the gaps left open by the imperial fire, and human soldiers were whittled down through attrition. The assault squads had covered good ground and were attacking the enemy's flanks, drawing their attention away from the unrelenting force of bolters and las guns. Flamers melted husks as they closed in for melee, plasma guns turned cannibals and brutes into ash, marines equipped with stalker bolters picked off horned xenos since they appeared to be the obvious leaders of the groups.

Many of the imperial soldiers had run dry; they had spent all of their ammunition. Tantius ordered all soldiers with ammo to keep firing into the enemy; he then rallied all those with spent guns to join him as he threw Shepard to the metal grating of the deck. Tantius's men did the same with the rest of Shepard's group. Storm troopers were ordered to guard Shepard's team as Tantius drew his chain sword. Everyone incapable of firing a weapon at that time took this as a queue to draw their respective weapons. The enemy never stood a chance against the combined onslaught of the Deathwatch and storm troopers.

Tantius had met with the assault marines as they pushed their way to the middle of their foe. His armor was slick with blood of various colors, but Tantius took great joy in bringing pain to this new foe. The fight lasted for another ten minutes. The piles of enemy corpses seemed to never end. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the last of their foe had fallen.

Tantius knew that more would follow however; he ordered the fallen to be recovered and signaled for everyone to find a craft. Tantius and his squad recovered the forms of Shepard and the rest of his team as they marched towards a vacant thunder hawk.

Marines and storm troopers worked frantically to load up as much of the surviving tech as they could into the vacant ships. The hanger was in turmoil as land raiders were latched to thunder hawks, predator tanks were rolled up ramps, rhinos, land speeders and bikes were driven into vacant Valkyrie, and thunder hawk gunships. Men and woman scrambled to save what they could in their brief respite.

Tech marine Evans ran up to Tantius and patted his shoulder plate. Tantius turned to face the tech marine; he had recovered his arm from the soldier he had given it to. Evans nodded his head as he pointed at the Kodiak shuttle. "Can I have that one?"

There was no time to argue, Tantius ordered several marines to assist Brother Evans in loading Shepard's shuttle into a Tantius's vacant transport. Everyone was able to find a place to stow themselves and the heavy load laden Imperial crafts lifted gently and floated out of the hanger into the darkness of space.

The enemy ships ignored the shuttles as they left; they were focused on the deadly battle barge. The battle barge's weapons fired in all directions and claimed Reaper after Reaper. The enemy vessels had closed the distance however and latched themselves onto the _Black Dragon's _hull. Most of the crew was either dead, or on the escaping shuttles. The only ones left aboard were gun servitors, and the slaves left to die.

Dozens of Reaper vessels shelled the imperial ship with numerous barrages of liquefied metal. The shields held strong under the blast until suddenly they sputtered and died. Enemy foot troops had been fed information by the bigger ships about energy spikes in the vessel. They worked their way into the plasma generators and caused them to overload. The vessel had fought valiantly and claimed hundreds of Reapers in its death, but it couldn't handle the numerous foes by itself.

The last of the lighting fighters and thunderhawks not able to break away from the engagement with the enemy fighters and join the escaping shuttles exploded as they were picked off one by one by the bigger vessels.

The escaping shuttles fired on full power, pulling away from the dying vessel as fast as they could.

Tantius looked out of a viewport and saw his beloved home for nearly three hundred years explode in a massive supernova as the plasma generators exploded and turned into miniature stars. The shuttles vibrated violently as the trail edge of the shockwave rolled over them. Several shuttles momentarily lost power as the discharge overloaded their systems.

The fireballs engulfed the ships latched to its hull, and in its death throes… the _Black Dragon _had claimed hundreds of victims. The ship's machine spirit died happily knowing that it was able to bring such pain to its enemy.

The surviving enemy constructs milled around the debris of the once mighty imperial vessel and shot the bigger chunks into ash and molten slag. They seemed bitter towards the ship as it had claimed so many of their allies. The blow dealt to the Reapers was crippling, and it would take them months to recover. The _Black Dragon's _efforts however, if not intentionally gave resistance fighters in the Terminus Systems a temporary reprieve as the Reapers retreated to nearby star systems to lick their wounds.

Tantius sighed heavily as both pride and grief flooded him. He knew that the ship had fought just long enough to let its crew escape to safety but he felt as if part of him had died. "Wake Shepard up… I want to speak to him."


	4. Chapter 4

Shepard was taking far too long. Specialist Traynor brought up her previous scan of the terminus systems and she cocked her head to one side as the beacon stuttered and died from her console. She assumed it was an error at first and ran a diagnostic check on her computer. After a quick five minute test, the results were back… nothing. Traynor frowned at the news. _What happened?_

"EDI, can you help me with this real quick?"

A blue bulbous headed figure flashed and came to life next to her screen.

"What seems to be the problem Specialist Traynor?" EDI quipped.

"I just lost Shepard's signal as well as the emergency beacon… you don't think something could've happened do you?"

EDI's hologram sat motionless briefly. "Even though it is an extremely high risk scenario… I suggest that we proceed to his shuttle's last known coordinates; he might have left a trail to follow."

Traynor nodded, and EDI disappeared from her console to relay the order to move to Joker. This was a hell of a time for the commander to go missing.

Shepard had been sinking in and out of consciousness for over an hour. He had only received intermittent glimpses of his surroundings as he was being hefted along by Tantius. The sporadic sounds of gunfire had stopped, which pleased Shepard immeasurably; without the constant noise of combat his headache might actually go away. After pushing himself to stay awake, he took in his new environment.

The lights were dimmed, and the open viewport let in the soft purple glow of the Perseus Veil. The scene was rather comforting, but it wouldn't last long. Shepard tried to move his hands to his face to rub his eyes, but he couldn't; they were strapped into an oversized chair with metal restraints. He pulled against them only to realize that his left wrist was broken, a sharp pain shot up his arm as he settled back into his seat.

Shepard glanced around the room and noticed about a dozen green and red eye lenses were staring at him. Tantius sat amongst the figures. The commander's mind raced as he tried to remember what had happened. He remembered the _Black Dragon_, the fight with Adantis, waking up to the sound of gunfire and Tali trying to shout to him… Tali.

"Tali!" Shepard shouted, he was filled with instant dread as to where she was and if she was still alive. He wanted to know what happened to his team, Garrus, Tali, and Cortez. He fought against the restraints again; the adrenaline flowing through him made him temporarily immune to the pain in his arms and legs. The deep soothing voice of Sergeant Tantius gave him pause.

"Shepard… I see you're awake," Tantius walked into Shepard's field of view, he had his helmet clenched in one hand, and a massive pistol in the other. Shepard struggled against the restraints again.

"Don't bother with that Shepard… those restraints are solid adamantium, even I would have difficulty removing them from my person," the space marine said, his scarred face absolutely impassive.

"Where are my friends?" Shepard shouted as he pulled against the metal restraints again.

"They are… around," Tantius inspected his gargantuan pistol as he spoke. "Firstly Shepard… I have a few questions."

"I'm not telling you anything until I know my team is safe!" Shepard spoke through clenched teeth; the pain began to return to his limbs.

"Once again Shepard… you are not in a position to make demands. Tell me what I want to know, and I will tell you what happened to your xenos friends."

Shepard settled down in his chair. His head sagged and he decided it was best to play along for now. "What do you want to know?"

Tantius's nodded slightly.

"A wise choice," Tantius began to pace back in forth "Let's us start once again from the very beginning. I already know the answer to my next query, but I need you to answer nonetheless… What is your name?"

Shepard raised his eyebrow, "I'm Commander John Shepard."

"Commander of what?"

"Of the SSV Normandy SR2." Shepard continued.

"Who do you work for?" Tantius fixed Shepard with a disheartening glare.

"I should be asking you that question." Shepard shot the statement at the space marine sergeant.

"Shepard, I thought you wished to know the state of your friends," Tantius said. "If you still do then I suggest you do not answer my questions with other questions. I only have so much patience today… I will ask again; who do you work for?"

Shepard sighed heavily

"The Alliance." Shepard breathed the response.

"Tell me about the Alliance." Tantius asked the seated commander.

"We're basically the human presence in the universe; I won't go into specifics right now?" Shepard stated.

"And what of the Imperium?" Tantius asked as he leaned back to exchange brief words with a man with two arms strapped to his back, and an axe in a sheath tied to his thigh.

"The what?" Shepard's brow furrowed. _What the hell is the Imperium? _

"Are you telling me that the Imperium does not have a presence in this part of the galaxy?"

"Listen Tantius… just what the fuck is the Imperium?" Shepard raised his voice as he asked the question.

"We're the human presence in the galaxy; we hunt down humanities various foes and ensure our survival as a species." Tantius continued pacing.

"Listen buddy, there is no Imperium… there's only the Alliance. The Imperium just sounds like some made up science fiction shit… I'm not buying it!" Shepard spoke using his previous tone.

"Commander… I will overlook your statement for now but only once. Now, what were those things that attacked my vessel?" Tantius asked the fuming Shepard.

"I'm not answering shit until I know what happened to my team!"

"Shepard, as I said before… you are not in a posi-"

"I don't give a shit about what position I'm in… I'm not answering anything until I know what happened to them." Shepard's voice grew quieter, but the anger behind it was undeniable. Shepard always kept a cool head, and always tried to solve his problems diplomatically, but he knew such actions were not going to work against the man standing in front of him.

Tantius sighed, "Very well… If you will not cooperate openly… we will have to resort to more extreme methods of extraction."

Tantius nodded at the green and red eye lenses and spoke, "Librarian Crixes… your presence if you would."

One of the sets of green eyes stood and strode towards Tantius. The figure had a long staff that stood seven feet tall. A spiked golden star encased a human skull at the tip. Several bands of cloth and paper were affixed the shining golden pole with red wax seals. The man wore armor similar to Tantius, the only difference being the right shoulder pad. It was painted red with a sculpted horned skull.

The two marines exchanged silent words when Crixes simply nodded. He walked over to Shepard's side and removed his helmet. His skin was as creased with wrinkles and scars. Shepard found this oddly intimidating, even on top of all the obvious differences between himself and the other soldiers.

Crixes reached out to Shepard's head; Shepard attempted to pull himself away, but the restraints kept him firmly locked in place. The temperature in the room dropped suddenly as Crixes began to utter words of unknown meaning to Shepard. His voice was deep and baritone, and oddly threatening. Shepard let out a gasp of pain as the marine's hand touched his head. Shepard's wasn't prepared for what would happen next.

He let out a cry of pain as the Librarian coursed through his mind at his will. Shepard's life flashed in front of him in vivid detail. His life in the slums, running with the Reds, joining the marines, Akuze; Shepard experienced everything about his past life over again. He saw the faces of the men who died, dragged underground by massive thresher maws. Eden Prime, saving the colony, fighting the Geth for the first time. Shepard relived old bullet wounds, and broken bones and bruises. The argument with the Council trying to convince them of Saren's guilt, meeting Garrus for the first time, meeting the young plucky Quarian Tali for the first time, pursuing Saren, meeting Liara. All the events leading up to Sovereigns eventual death flashed past Shepard's eyes.

Shepard began to resist once he realized what the librarian was doing. Shepard didn't know how he was doing it, but he wouldn't let him sift through his brain at will. Crixes sensed Shepard's effort to push him back and pushed harder. Shepard yelped as the librarian's psychic powers coursed through his brain. Shepard's death and resurrection, the building of the new Normandy, meeting the old team again, picking up new members, confessing his love for Tali, Shepard pulling off her mask to reveal her beautiful face.

_No more!_ Shepard pushed as hard as he could against Crixes's power. The Librarian ceased his efforts and rose to his feet. He was sweating heavily despite the freezing temperature of the room. Shepard let out a gasp of exertion; his mind was his own again. The librarian looked puzzled as he processed the information he stole from Shepard.

"Why did you stop brother?" Tantius asked Crixes.

"This one is remarkably strong willed Tantius; if I had gone any further I would have killed him… from what you have told me of him he is of much more use to us alive than dead; Many of his actions are most heretical while but his other deeds... I need a moment to process this information… there was… much to absorb." Crixes let out a low whistle as he reflected back on the information extracted from Shepard's mind. He stood behind Tantius and bowed his head, deep in thought.

"Did you extract anything useful, Brother Librarian?" Tantius asked.

"Much, yes… I will tell you what I have learned when I make sense of what I have seen." Tantius turned back to Shepard and let Crixes work.

"Will you answer a few more questions, Commander?" Tantius asked in an indifferent tone.

Shepard was bleeding from his nose and mouth. He wearily raised his head and stated "Fuck you!" Shepard let his head sag again as a smile crawled across his face.

Tantius nodded, "Very well, Commander. You wish to know about the state of your team… it's only fair that I show you." Tantius raised his gauntleted hand to his ear and spoke, "Bring the female xeno to the troop bay."

A few seconds later, a group of storm troopers appeared with the struggling form of Tali. They threw her to the ground and aimed their hell pistols at her.

"Shepard!" Tali sounded elated to see that he was still alive.

Shepard's ears perked up at the sound of her voice, "Tali!"

Tali tried to rush to Shepard's side, but the storm troopers caught her and threw her back down to the metal floor. Tantius raised his pistol and placed it in on her faceplate.

"As I have stated many, many times before, Commander… I suggest you work with us or else!" Tantius punctuated his statement by loading the first bolt round into the chamber of his pistol.

Shepard mouthed as many curses as he could think of. "Damn you bastard… fine, what do you want to know?"

"I do not hear enough enthusiasm in your voice," Tantius pressed the pistol even harder into Tali's face plate. A small hairline fracture formed under the barrel of the gun as the pressure increased.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note- I Cannot thank user Ursakar enough for his help with this story, and several other users out there for helping me with the little technical things!  
**

**Chapter 5**

"Now that we have an agreement commander, allow me to repeat my query… Identify those things that attacked my vessel? With enthusiasm this time commander, if you continue to resist, we might just have to make an example of your friends." Tantius still had his bolt pistol pressed into Tali's visor.

"Those "things" that attacked your ship …are called Reapers."

"What exactly is a Reaper, Shepard?"

"AI constructs hell-bent on wiping out advanced civilizations."

Tantius was considering Shepard's answer when Librarian Crixes turned Tantius to face him.

"Ask him what year it is." Crixes's face wore a deep frown.

"Why, Brother Librarian?" Tantius asked the scowling psyker.

"Just do it… I have my suspicions." Crixes stared down at the floor, lost in thought again.

Tantius turned to face Shepard. The bolt pistol never left Tali's face plate. "What year is it?" Tantius felt ridiculous asking the question, but he learned to trust librarians when they had their suspicions. Shepard's gaze kept switching between Tali and Tantius. "2186… why?"

Marines and storm troopers begin to murmur. Crixes strode in front of Tantius; his face had somehow grown more forlorn. "Shepard… are you absolutely sure?"

Shepard raised his eyebrow inquisitively. "I'm pretty sure." Shepard said while sarcastically nodding.

"Come now Crixes… he is obviously lying. Time travel is a known side effect of the warp, but what he's suggesting is just preposterous." Tantius slid his bolt pistol back into his holster. Tali let out a sigh of relief as the massive gun was removed from her sight.

Tantius signaled for the storm troopers to pick up the Quarian and place her with the others. Shepard hated to see her go, but at least now she didn't have an eight foot tall freak pointing a gun in her face.

Tantius placed his hand on Crixes shoulder and pulled him towards a nearby view port on the other side of the troop bay; just out of Shepard's ear shot.

"Crixes… you are one of my closest friends and advisors, and I have always believed you… you saved my life during our raid on Armageddon and I trust you with my wellbeing, but this… what you're suggesting is just absurd!" Tantius grimaced as he finished.

"Have I done anything to cause you to not trust in my judgment, Brother?" Crixes asked. Tantius stood in silence for several seconds.

"No… but honestly Crixes… really? You're suggesting time travel… extensive time travel?" Tantius raised his voice slightly.

"Not just that brother… but I don't even think we're in the same reality." Crixes pushed Tantius towards the view port and pointed at the purple haze of the Perseus Veil. "What is that brother Tantius?"

Tantius examined the nebula. "I'm a trained soldier Crixes, not an astronomer."

Crixes sighed, "During my initiation into the Deathwatch, I spent whatever free time I had studying the stars. Granted, there was not much time for it, but I did manage to learn a few important things; namely, that purple haze over there… should not exist."

Tantius scoffed, "You're basing your thoughts on clouds Crixes?"

"Tantius, I'm being serious!"

"No Crixes, you're not hearing what you're saying. For all we know, we could just be in an unrecorded part of the universe. Switching realities only happens in child's tales. I have seen many, many things in my years fighting the Emperor's enemies; in that time, I have seen numerous horrors, and events I wouldn't have believed possible if I had not actually seen them with my own eyes… but this…" Tantius trailed off as he stared in bewilderment at the purple haze of the nebula.

Crixes sighed again, "You were always a stubborn one Tantius… sorry about this."

Crixes placed his hand on Tantius's exposed forehead. Crixes showed Tantius everything that he had recovered from Shepard. Tantius's eyes went wide as he took in the information.

Tantius punched Crixes in the side of his face and faced him "Don't do that ever again!" Tantius pointed at the librarian.

"See what I mean brother… things just don't add up here. The humans and xenos here are… unified so to speak." Tantius stared at the librarian.

"Then we're dealing with a universe of heretics!" Tantius spoke through gritted teeth.

"Tantius, that's not what I'm trying to say."

Tantius punched Crixes in his scarred face again, "That's all you should be saying Crixes. This universe is full of heresy… it should be put to the torch."

Tantius's brow furrowed as he thought about what he had seen. He stared out the view port at the Perseus Veil.

Crixes rubbed his face, the spot that Tantius hit was already beginning to swell. "Like it or not Tantius, you have worked with xenos before."

Tantius's fists clenched tight. "Don't do it Crixes."

"I read about Tartarus, Tantius… the Blood Ravens seem fairly eager to work with the eldar of Biel-Tan."

"We had no choice; it was that or let the great enemy succeed."

"I agree, you had to do it, but as much as we hate to admit it brother, humanity has had to rely on other races to do its dirty work. The Deathwatch has enlisted kroot mercenaries to knock out ork strongholds. These things are necessary. Do not think yourself the Emperor's gift to mankind brother, we all have past we're not proud of. Before your initiation into the Deathwatch, you fought against your own brothers when your chapter master turned to Chaos."

Tantius faced Crixes, "Enough!"

The story of the Blood Raven's chapter war was not common knowledge. If word got out to the rest of the imperium, the Blood Ravens could be wiped out in their entirety.

Crixes continued in a low whisper, "Your own chapter had been plagued with taint Tantius. You murdered your own brothers in arms, most of which didn't even know they were being mis-led."

"It would be wise for you to stop right there Crixes!"

Crixes was about to continue when Tantius interrupted.

"I said enough!" Tantius tried to punch Crixes again, but was stopped mid-way. Tech marine Evans was holding Tantius back. Evans gestured towards their prisoner. Shepard had been observing the exchange, alongside the entire troop bay.

"I read the reports written by Inquisitor Adrastia, when I heard that she was considering an exterminatus upon your worlds, I advised her to lead the investigation planet side herself, because I knew that at heart, your chapter was pure. She knew it to, and saw how your brothers fought desperately against the insidious claws of Chaos. Making Gabriel Angelos your chapter master solidified those claims of purity… the Blood Ravens are stronger than ever before."

Many of the deathwatch marines could still hear the conversation and were surprised to hear of the Blood Raven's run in with Chaos. The murmuring got louder as Crixes finished.

Tantius relaxed and focused on the librarian, "We'll discuss this later Crixes. That is a piece of history that I would very much like to forget… If you bring it up again, I cannot be held responsible for what I might do!" Tantius stormed off into the cockpit of the thunder hawk leaving the rest of the troop bay in stunned silence.

Tantius waved the storm troopers guarding the rest of Shepard's group aside as he worked his way up to the pilot's control room. Tantius knocked his armored fist against the solid metal door, and it slid open a few seconds later.

Tantius walked in and stood next to the pilot. The man was obviously a chapter serf, a space marine whose body rejected the gene seed of his chapter, but was still able to fulfill a key role anyway. The man was fiddling around with the many buttons on the dash of the massive shuttle. Tantius looked out of the main view window and realized that they weren't moving.

"Why are we not moving pilot?" Tantius asked.

The man briefly brought his head up to face the sergeant, "From our scans… there's no planet within range of our ship. Plus the servitor manning the auspex just reported some strange activity not too far from our position."

Tantius continued to look out the cockpit, "Is it those things that attacked the barge?"

The pilot shook his head, "No, it's much smaller and quicker. I've already signaled the other pilots to be on the lookout for it, should it decide to be hostile. Emperor is it quick."

Tantius looked down at the pilot's screen and was taken back slightly at what he saw; the unknown contact was moving at an exponential speed.

"From what the servitors have told me, the thing's moving at light speed… which is unusual."

Tantius stared back into the void of space, "Why is it unusual, pilot?"

The pilot keyed several buttons, "Most ships moving at that speed don't do so without creating waves in the warp. The closest thing I can relate this too is perhaps some technology among the Tau."

"Is it a Tau ship pilot?"

"Doesn't match anything I've ever seen."

Tantius sighed, _great… another unknown contact._

"I think the strangest thing though is… there is no warp presence here."

"Why do you say that pilot?"

"When the _Black Dragon_ exited from the warp, all warp signatures died immediately. Even when ships disengage from warp travel, you can still pick up residual waves of the wakes they created for several hours after disengaging… I'm picking up nothing, and on top of that, this thing isn't creating any either." The pilot gestured towards the auspex screen.

Tantius looked down at the console and reflected on what the pilot was saying… _Perhaps Crixes is right…_ Tantius shook his head trying to push the thought away from his mind. Tantius and the pilot waited in silence as they both stared at the console's screen; the only sound came from servitors performing their pre-programmed tasks; mechanical hands pushed buttons, and pulled levers.

The servitor manning the auspex let out a low hum periodically as data was transmitted via the wires socketed into its eye sockets. A small blue light lit up the cosmos and caught the attention of Tantius and the pilot. "There it is! What do you want to do, Brother Sergeant?"

Tantius would've chuckled at the question if not for his ever decreasing mood. The man could've been a proud, brave space marine had he not been cursed with genetic defects that rejected what made a space marine a warrior.

"Can we get a closer look brother?" Tantius asked.

The pilot smiled as he fumbled around with the buttons on the thunder hawk's dash and responded, "Check on that console there… you should be able to get a picture of it."

The pilot pointed to a small console that looked as if it was supposed to be commanded by a co-pilot… Tantius could only assume that man was dead. Tantius faced the console's small screen as the image came into focus. The unknown ship floated in space, sitting idly. Tantius assumed that it was running scans to see if anyone was nearby.

It wasn't a "Reaper" as Shepard had called them. This ship looked much more advanced albeit smaller. Two protrusions came out of the rounded front; they looked like tusks in Tantius's eyes. The body arced gently to the back where on the wings, four bright blue lights started to dim.

Tantius caught something, "Pilot, focus in on the port side of the vessel."

The pilot nodded, and the video feed adjusted. Tantius sighed; on the side of the vessel painted in large black, block, letters, it read _Normandy SR2_.

* * *

"I'm picking up dozens of unknown contacts just a few hundred kilometers from our position Jeff… Shepard's shuttle is among them." EDI's mechanical body sat next to Joker as she quickly moved the various screens in front of her, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

Joker turned his head to face her, "Are they Reapers, EDI?"

EDI panned the screens around as she scanned them, "No… signatures are unknown… they're just sitting there… waiting."

Jeff sighed as he faced his command console again, "Great, I've always said that this mission needs to be more dangerous… I guess someone's finally listening."

EDI continued her work in silence. Joker turned to face her, "You're supposed to laugh."

EDI stopped what she was doing, "Why, it wasn't even that funny?"

Jeff turned back to his station feeling slightly deflated when EDI chimed, "That was a joke."

Jeff shook his head and snickered to himself. He brought himself back into focus and tried to work out what he was seeing.

"They're not doing shooting us, and Shepard's with them. Do you think they could be friendly?" Joker asked EDI.

"As much as I would like it to be so, Shepard hasn't even attempted to contact us, and I'm receiving complete radio silence on their end."

"Are they jamming it?"

"No, they're just not talking. It's like they're waiting to see what we'll do."

* * *

"You know, we could kill them." The pilot chimed in.

Tantius was still focused on the _Normandy_.

"We have enough ordinances between the shuttles and gunships to bring down almost anything."

Tantius ignored to pilot and considered his options. A sense of doubt was slowly seeping through his brain that was staying his hand. As much as he fought against it, he couldn't help but think about what Crixes had said earlier. Tantius was hesitant about opening fire on the new vessel, he thought it was because he didn't know what it was capable of, but it was mostly because he was curious about what he would find on board. This was the ship shown to him by Crixes, and as far as Tantius was concerned, he should've blown it straight to hell as soon as it exited light speed. On board, heretics consorted with aliens. It was impure.

"Damn it Crixes, what have you done to me?" Tantius whispered to himself.

Tantius's mind wandered back to the Reapers attacking the battle barge; although they died in droves, they still managed to bring down one of the mightiest ships in the Imperial Navy. None of this made sense… what if Crixes was right… what if they weren't in their own universe anymore. _Nonsense_.

"Pilot, what is your name?"

The pilot swiveled his chair around to face the sergeant, "Warren, my lord."

"Warren… Emperor forgive me… open up communications with that vessel. It's a damned good time to figure out what's going on."

Tantius left the cockpit as Warren attempted to hail the Normandy. Tantius stormed into the cargo bay and pointed at one of the storm troopers, "Release Shepard's restraints now."

The trooper leapt out of her chair and did as she was told. Shepard looked very confused as Tantius picked him up by his broken wrist and dragged him into the cockpit of the thunder hawk.

"Shepard, you're going to get me onboard that ship, understand?"

Shepard struggled against the space marine's grip. "What ship?"

Tantius threw Shepard towards the console streaming the video being captured. Shepard winced as his wrist broke his fall. He stared at the picture of the _Normandy_. "Shit…"

Warren swiveled in his chair to face Tantius, "Sergeant, they're not accepting our request to speak with them."

"Are they denying it?"

"No."

"Tell them we have their commander and he wishes to make a request."


End file.
